Rookie Andrew Robustelli Brings Familiar Name to Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — When Andrew Robustelli walked into the Giants’ headquarters and training complex last month, he saw something very familiar.

“Everywhere I turned, I saw a picture of my grandfather,” a smiling Robustelli said Friday.

The man for whom Robustelli was named, Andy Robustelli, was a seven-time All-Pro defensive end, a stalwart of fearsome Giants championship teams and a Giants front-office executive who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. The elder Robustelli died in 2011.

The younger Robustelli, who goes by Andrew, was at the Giants complex for a visit in the days before the N.F.L. draft. A few days later, Robustelli signed a contract as an undrafted free agent from Jacksonville University, and Friday, he was at the Giants’ rookie camp running pass routes in practice.

Giants Coach Tom Coughlin, who was raised in upstate New York surrounded by Giants fans, knew the family connection.

“I’m not sure that the other players knew who Andy Robustelli was,” said Coughlin, who acknowledged that he had never coached the grandson of a Hall of Famer before.

But the Giants’ defensive players might soon know more about the original Robustelli in a Giants uniform.

“The defensive group has been doing a good job with reaching back into time to understand the tradition of the New York Giant defense, and Andy Robustelli was brought up last night and again this morning,” Coughlin said. “So they will be educated before they leave here.

“The players have been shown a little movie. They should know the tradition, and we’ve got to get back to that.”

Andrew Robustelli grew up in Stamford, Conn., the hometown of his grandfather, and was inculcated in the accomplishments of his namesake at an early age.

“A great man who did great things,” Andrew said Friday.

When Andrew was 10, his parents, Tracey and Michael, moved the family to Florida. Most of the rest of the Robustelli clan has remained in the Stamford area.

Andrew played four years at Jacksonville, finishing his collegiate career with 104 receptions for 1,980 yards and 23 touchdowns. At a crowded rookie minicamp with more than 65 players, Robustelli, who is 6 feet 2 inches and 209 pounds, was just one of many trying to make an impression. The odds of making the training camp roster in July are long for the majority of the invitees this week.

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Andy Robustelli, a seven-time All-Pro defensive end and a stalwart with the Giants, in 1956.CreditAssociated Press

“I’m just thankful for the opportunity,” Robustelli said. “I’m doing the best I can do.”

Robustelli said his family was overjoyed that his first experience in pro football was with the Giants and he added that he had received numerous texts and emails from relatives and friends. He admitted that some of those messages reminded him of the expectations given his last name.

With a laugh, he said, “I don’t want to ruin or diminish the name.”

On his first day as a Giant, walking through hallways where a large oil portrait of his grandfather graces one wall, Andrew Robustelli was just taking it all in. His locker was next to the one used by Odell Beckham Jr. and just a couple of spots from where Eli Manning dresses.

“It’s just an honor to be here,” Robustelli said.

CALLING ON CANADA The Giants invited 12 players who were from Canada or who had played football at Canadian colleges to Friday’s rookie minicamp. That included center Brett Jones, a Canadian Football League star the team signed in February.

Tom Coughlin, when asked why there were so many Canadians in the camp, laughed.

“Availability, maybe?” he said.

Asked if 12 players was a record for Canadian players in an N.F.L. camp, Coughlin said, jokingly, “We tried to set the record, and I think we got it.”

A RUTGERS LINK Gary Nova, formerly of Rutgers, was one of three quarterbacks at the Friday practice. Bennett Jackson, a former cornerback from Notre Dame who was drafted by the Giants in the sixth round last year, has been converted to safety. The Giants are trying to find two new starters at safety in 2015.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D7 of the New York edition with the headline: Rookie Brings Familiar Name to Giants . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe